Curtain fabric



July 4, 1939. MARSHALL 2,164,998

CURTAIN FABRIC Filed Nov. 10, 1937 INVENTOR. 4%,

ATTORNEY,

Patented July 4, 1939 UNITED STATES 2,164,998 CURTAIN FABRIC Harold T.

The Kendall Company,

Marshall, Sharon, Mass, assignor to Walpole, Mass, a corporation ofMassachusetts Application November 10, 1937, Serial No. 173,874

2 Claims.

This invention relates to curtains and curtain fabrics.

A high percentage of the curtains used in the home are made by thehousewife. She goes to the 5 store and selects a curtain fabric suitedto her requirements. Usually this material is of an open-mesh characterwhich is shipped to the retailer in the form of bolts. That is, thefabric is either rolled or folded to present it in a relatively compactform from which the salesman can draw any suitable length ordinarilyrequired by a customer. He cuts off the length desired by the purchaserand she later cuts this into suitable lengths for individual curtains.

In making a curtain it is necessary for her to run a hem along thevertical edge which will hang approximately in front of the center ofthe window, this hem being required partly to give the edge a betterappearance and partly, also, to reduce the tendency of the curtain tosag. Often it is necessary to hem both edges, although with some fabricsthe margin which is to be positioned at the side of the window casing isleft unhemmed. The making of either type of these hems is a laboriousproceeding. It is necessary first to fold over a portion of the marginof the curtain of the width desired for the hem. In order to hold thefold in place, it is necessary to pin it at frequent intervals. Also thewidth must be measured at the pinned points to make sure that the hemwill be even. These folding and pinning operations start at one end ofthe curtain and proceed to the opposite end. Next, the folded overportion is basted. Subsequently it is pressed or ironed, this step beingnecessary to make the flimsy curtain material retain the fold. The hemthen is ready to be stitched. After this operation has been performed,the basting threads are removed. This process has been followed withoutany material change for generations.

The present invention aims to improve curtain webs and the methods ofpreparing them for merchandizing with a view to reducing very materiallythe labor required in performing these hemming operations.

I have found that this object can be realized by folding one or bothmargins of the curtain fabric, as may be desired, in connection with thewinding, folding, or other manipulations of the web required in workingit into the form of a bolt. The customary method of making a bolt is tounwind the Web from a supply roll or beam, feed it through a series offolding fingers and wind it up again on a cloth board or some othersuitable form. Or, instead of winding the web, it may be folded in anyone of several well known mechanisms to produce a folded bolt. Ifdesired, in connection with these operations,.the web may be cut intospecified lengths which may either be worked into a single bolt, or intoseparate and much smaller bolts. These winding and folding mechanismsare well known, and the manner in which the folding fingers are arrangedto produce the doubling and folding is thoroughly understood by thoseskilled in this art. The only changes required in these machines toproduce the results sought by the present invention are to arrange thefolding fingers so that the margin or margins, as the case may be, ofthe web will be folded over in connection with the doubling operationand as the web travels toward the winding mechanism or to the mechanismwhich folds the web transversely into layers of predetermined dimensionsto produce a folded bolt. The line of fold is automatically creased orset by the operation of the machine just at is the longitudinal line orcrease on which the goods are doubled.

Typical embodiments of the invention are shown in the accompanyingdrawing, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a bolt of curtainfabric with the web partly unwound, showing a fold which may be usedwhen one vertical margin only of the curtain is to be hemmed; and

Fig. 2 is a similar view illustrating a typical fold which may be usedwhen 'both vertical margins are to be hemmed.

Referring first to Fig. 1, the web of curtain fabric there shown isfolded longitudinally on the line 2 to double it, as is customary in theput-up of fabrics, except those of very narrow widths. Usually the twoselvage edges of the fabric are brought together in registeredrelationship at the opposite edge of the folded web. According to thepresent invention, however, a marginal portion 3 at one edge of thegoods is folded over and is pressed or creased sufficiently along theline of fold 4 to make the goods retain this fold. This turned overmargin is made of suitable width for the curtain hem. Preferably the twoedges 5 and 6 of the web are disposed substantially in meetingrelationship, both lying upon the unfolded bottom layer 1.

In using this material the housewife purchases a length of these goodssuited to her requirements and later cuts this into curtain lengths. Shecan then proceed immediately to stitch the hem or hems, all thepreliminary operations which have heretofore been required having beeneliminated by the fact that the fabric comes to her all folded and readyto stitch. She simply ill runs a seam through the marginof the foldedportion at a suitable distance from the edge 5. If she wishes, she canturn the selvage 8 under, she can cut it off, or she can stitch it onflat. But in any event, the preparatory operations which it has beennecessary for her to perform heretofore, including folding, measuring,pinning and basting, ironing or pressing the crease, and finallyremoving the basting. threads, are obviated. In addition, she is assuredan even hem for the reason that the hem has been folded in a machineoperation which performs this step with a degree of accuracy that ishard to equal by hand. Thus she produces a finished product having abetter appearance with materially less labor. In this connection it maybe pointed out that if the hems at the center of the window are unevenor irregular, that fact detracts greatly from the appearance of thecurtains and the window, since these hems are at a point where anyfaults in their construction are very conspicuous.

'If the goods are of such a nature that both margins are to be hemmed,the folding and creasing operations may be performed in the manner abovedescribed except that both margins are folded and creased, as shown inFig. 2. The margin 3 is folded outwardly, as in Fig. 1, while'the'opposite margin 9 is folded inwardly or under,

so that when the web is opened both folds lie on the same side of thegoods.

Essentially the same idea is also applicable to some other goods,particularly drapery materials, and accordingly, the term curtainfabrics is here used in a generic sense to include other goods to whichthe invention is applicable.

In addition to facilitating the manufacture of curtains in the home, theinvention can also be used advantageously in the commercial manufactureof these products. That is, the curtain manufacturers purchase theircurtain fabrics in bolts in which, however, the cloth usually is notdoubled. The webs in these bolts, however, may have their margins foldedin the same manner above described, thus saving the operations ofsubsequently folding the goods preparatory to sewing the hems. Thisresults in a saving to the manufacturer since the expense of putting upthe goods in this manner in the textile mill or the finishing plant doesnot add materially to the expense of manufacture at this point.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to claim as new is:

l. A cloth bolt consisting essentially of a web of curtain fabricvfromwhich lengths may be cut off suited to the requirements of individualpurchasers, the opposite longitudinal marginal portions of said webbeing folded over and creased at the lines of fold, said folded overportions each being of suitable width for a hem designed to extend alonga vertical edge of the curtain, said web being doubled longitudinallyand one of said margins being folded outwardly and the other inwardlywhereby both folded over margins, when the web is opened, will lie'uponthe same side ofv the goods.

2. A cloth bolt consisting essentially of a Web of curtain fabric fromwhich lengths may be cut off suited to the requirements of individualpurchasers, said web including a longitudinal marginal portion of awidth less than one-half the width of said bolt, folded over and creasedat the line of fold and said portion being of approximately the properwidth for a hem designed to extend along the vertical edge of thecurtain, the edge of said folded over margin approximately meeting theoppositeedge of the web and both lying upon an unfolded layer of the webextending the length of the web.

. HAROLD T. MARSHALL.

